A Year in the Life of a Graduate Trainee Archive Assistant for Archives & Special Collections, Falmouth University & University of Exeter, Penryn Campus.

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Women In Industry - St Ives Archive

I was recently given the chance to visit St Ives archive and
attend their Hidden Histories: Women in Industry event. As a trainee, visiting
other archives is important because it not only allows you to make links
locally but it is also a chance to learn more about the different kinds of
archives that are out there.

St Ives would be
best described as a ‘community archive’, which means it is predominantly run by
volunteers and does not employ a trained Archivist. Communityarchives.org.uk
defines these archives as ‘groups of evidence brought together by people
sharing an interest in finding out about their community and how it developed’.They are effectively run by the community,
for the community, without which some aspects their history would have been
lost. This kind of
archive is a considerable contributor to the sector as ‘30,000 volunteers are
estimated to be actively engaged with community archives throughout the UK’.

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St. Ives Archive

St Ives archive is currently working with The Hypatia Trust
as part of the History 51 project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to
highlight and celebrate the role of women in Cornwall’s history and the focus of
this Hidden History: Women in Industry event was on the almost forgotten years
of thriving textile industry that were once here.

There were four major textile companies located in
Downalong, between the 1930s and 1970s; Crysede, Flawns (owned by John Lewis),
Hamptons, Berketex and Fryers, all of which had a predominantly female
workforce.

Beautiful example of Crysede clothing

Many former
employees were invited along to join in the celebrations and it was a great
opportunity to record their memories as part of an oral history initiative.
There were also detailed, informative displays with a slideshow of images of
the factories from the archive to help trigger memories. This was accompanied
by examples of camouflage net making as these were produced in the factories
during WWII.

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One of the many interesting displays

Photographs from the archive alongside examples of camouflage nets and textiles

Communityarchives.org.uk explains that ‘enthusiasm
is the lifeblood of community archives’ and this was the thing that really
drove this event and made it a success. It was clear the volunteers had worked
incredibly hard to put this all together and bringing to light this history was
a real service to their community.

One lady kindly offered to teach me to knit using the original wooden needles and pattern!

It got me thinking
about the importance of community events for archives more widely. St. Ives
archive had donations made on the day and they received excellent local press
coverage, with even the mayor making an appearance, which only helps to
increase local awareness of an archive. They also invited Judy from the John Lewis Archive, who brought along records which filled some gaps in the
information held in their archives and, most strikingly, the locals and former
employees felt their heritage was valued.

Local involvement
is something that does not have to be exclusive to community archives and in
the past the Archive and Special Collections, here at the Penryn campus, have
had very successful events that were open to the public. For example last year’s
Public History Day, which you can read about on Grace’s blog, was an
event where the people who had connections with Tremough House were invited to
revisit. Unexpected donations were made on the day and CAVA
(Cornish Audio Visual Archive) carried out interviews to capture memories of
the estate.

With this in mind, the
success of this Hidden Histories event has really emphasised to me the
importance of these outreach initiatives. On the train home my mind was reeling
with ideas, such as whether we could expand this further with archive events for
former employees of Dartington College of Arts or an event for past and present
members of Kneehigh and Wildworks to capture moments in history before they are
lost. The possibilities are endless…